The background description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Unless otherwise indicated herein, the materials described in this section are not prior art to the claims in this application and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
A legacy procedure for producing a cold plate includes affixing a first piece (commonly referred to as ‘a lid’) of the cold plate to a second piece (commonly referred to as ‘a base’) of the cold plate. Affixing the lid to the base formed a cavity between the lid and the base through which a liquid coolant may be circulated to conduct heat away from the cold plate.
A legacy procedure for affixing the lid to the base typically involves brazing the lid to the base to generate a braze joint that affixes the lid to the base. Due to the characteristics of the materials, the braze joint is typically formed of a different material than the lid and the base, where the material of the braze joint occupies a different position on the galvanic series than the material of the lid and the base. The liquid circulated through the cavity is normally selected to minimize corrosion of the lid and base, but would result in galvanic corrosion of the braze joint. Further, portions of the braze joint that were corroded often would become lodged within the cavity and/or the coolant system, negatively affecting the cooling capabilities of the cold plate and/or the coolant system.
One legacy approach to addressing the issue involves mixing corrosion eliminators into the liquid circulated through the cavity. However, the corrosion eliminators are typically paired with a certain brazing material and fail to prevent corrosion when used with other brazing materials. Different manufacturers make use of different brazing materials, making it difficult, if not impossible, to select a corrosion eliminator that works with all cold plates on the market. Further, certain corrosion eliminators would become lodged within the cavity, such as within spaces produced by fins of the cold plate that may extend into the cavity.
Another legacy approach involves welding the lid and base together rather than brazing. Welding tends to be time consuming and not cost-effective. A final legacy approach uses gaskets or O-rings to affix the lid to the base rather than brazing. The inclusion of the gaskets or O-rings introduces a wet break, which is viewed as undesirable in an enclosure that could be a fire hazard.